Written by

Susan Davis
USA TODAY

The U.S. Senate appeared to have achieved a bipartisan compromise Tuesday to avert Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's plan to invoke the "nuclear option" on presidential executive nominees.

"I feel fairly confident," Reid said on the floor Tuesday morning, crediting the efforts of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to reach a deal to approve pending nominations to the National Labor Review Board and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

"John McCain is the reason we're at the point we are," Reid said, "No one was able to break through but him." ...